1. Technical Field
The present invention relates generally to an apparatus and method for detecting the locations of a vehicle and an obstacle and, more particularly, to an apparatus and method for detecting the locations of a vehicle and an obstacle using a laser scanner.
2. Description of the Related Art
An unmanned autonomous vehicle detects an obstacle in such a way as to mount radar, laser radar (lidar) and image sensors on a vehicle, and detects a current location in such a way as to mount a high performance Global Positioning System (GPS), thereby performing unmanned autonomous travel.
However, since sensors mounted on a vehicle can be used only for the corresponding vehicle, it is troublesome to mount sensors on all unmanned vehicles in order to operate a plurality of unmanned vehicles.
A high performance GPS has the disadvantage of the usable area thereof being restricted to open space since GPS signals might be interrupted by buildings and roofs. Further, since a high performance GPS is an expensive apparatus, there is a problem in that the price of the whole unmanned vehicle system rises.